The present invention relates to an air and liquid supplying device for an endoscope and, more particularly, to an air and liquid supplying device which supplies a liquid to an air supply channel of an endoscope so as to clean it.
When an endoscope is used, a contaminant such as mucus may become attached to an observation window mounted at the distal end of an insertion section of the endoscope, so as to interfere with the field of view of the operator. In view of this problem, water is supplied to a nozzle at the distal end of the insertion section through a liquid supply channel of the endoscope to spray water on and clean the surface of the observation window. Then, air is supplied to the nozzle through an air supply channel to remove water from the observation window to allow accurate observation using the endoscope.
Infection by means of the endoscope also presents a problem. In order to resolve this, an insertion section of the endoscope is submerged in an infusion solution or disinfectant or an infusion solution is passed through a forceps channel to disinfect the channel. Furthermore, since water or an infusion solution can be similarly supplied to the liquid supply channel as well as the forceps channel, the liquid supply channel is also cleaned or disinfected.
When disinfection or sterilization of the overall endoscope is attempted, since a contaminant may flow back into the air supply channel through the nozzle, air supply channel cleaning must also be performed. However, due to the structure of the endoscope, cleaning/disinfection of the air supply channel is not easy. This leads to incomplete cleaning/disinfection of the air supply channel and consequent infection of patients.